I further request that you
forward the blog and this exchange to as many of your contacts as
you can, so that it will reach, via their extended networks, as many
Chinese people around the world as possible.

You might also want to drop a
line to Zhang (straight from a Caucasian), and forward your remarks
far and wide as well, since they, too, need to be heard.

Thank you.

Anthony

Mr. Marr,

I briefly visited your website. I see the hope for the
earth and animals. I am a Chinese, often I feel so shamed by
what the Chinese are doing to the animals. I always feel so
much pain whenever I read the news that Chinese brutally
treat those animals in such a barbarian way. I think the way
to change this is more depending on education. But during
the time of the education, how many animals will be suffer
to die. I just cannot stand to think about it. Really, I
hate Chinese! HATE those human beings who show no respect to
animals and earth!

Zhang

Dear Zhang,

Thank you for sharing with me these deep, personal and troubled
feelings. I know exactly how you feel. I hope you don't mind me sharing
your sentiments with my friends and colleagues. I'm responding to you in
public because I know that your sentiments are quite universal to the
Chinese people in general.

First, I'd like to say that shame is a common sentiment amongst all
animal advocates of the world, and in fact amongst all people with a
conscience. I sometimes, too, hate being Chinese, but, having visited so
many countries and interacted with people of so many cultures,
nationalities and ethnicities, I have observed that many Americans hate
being American, many Canadians hate being Canadian, and, in general,
many humans hate being human! It certainly is true that no matter what
nationality or ethnicity one belongs to, there is always something to be
ashamed about.

Second, should we Chinese feel more ashamed of ourselves than others
about themselves? I would say that, yes, the collectivity of Chinese
animal abuse is indeed immense and diverse, but, no, because so are the
Chinese populations around the world and even within China itself
immense and diverse, which would in turn produce the immensity and
diversity of the abuse. This means that not all Chinese eat dog and cat
meat, and not all Chinese torture animals, and not all Chinese have
shark fin soup, and not all Chinese eat monkey brain. Unfortunately, in
the eyes of the world, China is China, singular, so if a small sector of
the Chinese people eat dog meat, then all Chinese people eat dog meat;
if a small minority of Chinese people torture animals, then all Chinese
people torture animals; and if the Chinese government adopts a certain
evil policy, all 1.4 billion Chinese are evil. Of course we Chinese know
that these generalizations are untrue.

In my family, we have never had tiger bone or rhino horn medicines,
nor eaten bear paw, nor worn fur, nor mistreated animals, as far as I
know. We might even argue that on a per capita basis, we Chinese people
are perhaps even less blood-thirsty than the people of some of the more
"advanced" countries. How many Chinese people, for example, take rifles
and bows-and-arrows into the bush and shoot animals for "sport" and fun?
Almost none! Do the Chinese kill whales? No! Do the Chinese slaughter
dolphins? No! Do the Chinese do bull-fighting? No! Do the Chinese people
eat as much meat as the Western people? No! But - Do some of the Chinese
people eat dogs and cats? Yes!

These two points are to put your/our shame in a more objective
perspective, so that it be not over-blown to the point of causing us
undue loss of pride and dignity.

This said, let me say that I'm not one to point my finger at others.
In my humble opinion, all who feel shame should do something about it. I
can say this bluntly because on this score I have walked my talk. I feel
shame being Canadian, so I participate in the movement opposing the
Canadian commercial seal hunt, and even take the campaign to the United
States, and soon Europe, to ask the American and European peoples to
boycott Canadian seal and other products. I feel shame being Chinese, so
I go into the Chinatowns of North America to cleanse them of endangered
species medicines.

I do both also because I also love being a Chinese Canadian, and want
the best for both.

Bottom line. Please pass this message on to as many Chinese people as
you can, and let's all do something about it, individually and in
unison.